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NICE draft guidance on adult hearing loss: Consultation response

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a draft guidance on the assessment and management of hearing loss in adults for consultation. We would like to know your views in three key areas to include them in our formal response to the draft.

By: Tahrima Choudhury | 08 December 2017

The National
Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent
organisation, set up by the Government in 1999, to provide national guidance
and quality standards on treatments and care for health and social care
practitioners and commissioners.

We will be submitting
a formal response to the guideline and want to ensure that people with
deafness and hearing loss have their views included in our response. We would
like to hear your views on recommendations
on the following areas:

Hearing aids:

NICE has recommended that hearing aids should be offered to adults whose hearing loss affects their ability to communicate, two hearing aids should be offered to adults with hearing loss in both ears.

We support this recommendation. There is significant evidence on the improvements to health and well-being from using hearing aids. Research shows that fitting two hearing aids improves speech clarity and reduces listening strain, and enables better localisation of sound.

Role of GPs in referring to audiology services:

NICE has recommended that GPs should refer all adults, regardless of their age who present for the first time with hearing difficulties, or whom hearing difficulties are suspected.

We support this recommendation. GPs play a crucial role in the NHS for people with hearing loss, however evidence suggests that often GPs can act as a barrier to people getting help for their hearing loss, by failing to make referrals to audiology services.

Removing earwax in primary and community care:

NICE has recommended that removal of earwax in primary or community care is offered to adults if it is contributing to hearing loss or other symptoms, or prevents examination of the ear.

We support this recommendation. Excessive earwax has a negative impact on the ear, hearing and hearing aids. It also affects delivery of services by audiology and ear nose and throat (ENT) departments.

Our response to
the draft guideline will reviewed by
NICE, and changes will be made to the guideline if considered appropriate.
The final version is due to be published in May 2018.

To have your views included in our response, please
read the guidance and share with us your views by commenting below or
emailing Tahrima Choudhury at tahrima.choudhury@hearingloss.org.uk by the 5th
of January 2018.

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06 March 2019

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A team of international researchers have used a new gene therapy technique to restore hearing in mice with a genetic form of deafness that is similar to a type found in people (called DFNB9). Our Translational Research Manager, Dr Carina Santos, tells us more about their work.

Smartphones are capable of doing extraordinary things. They have gone from basic text, email and call function to being able to complete complex tasks like a mini computer. With all of this capability, how can they be used to improve accessibility and what are the manufacturers doing to make them more inclusive? Also, are they doing enough to ensure people are safe when using these devices?

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Robyn Hunt’s PhD project at the University of Southampton is testing whether computer algorithms can accurately predict how well hearing aids process speech in noisy environments, to help improve the quality of NHS hearing aids. She tells us more.